


Evolutionary Tactics

by QueridaMyDear



Category: Venom (Movie 2018)
Genre: eddie wears so much jewelry, i love it so much i wanted to write a fic about it, venom thinks anne is a badass and has no problems telling eddie that, venom thinks the jewelry serves some kind of function
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-25
Updated: 2018-11-24
Packaged: 2019-08-28 22:26:27
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,435
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16731792
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/QueridaMyDear/pseuds/QueridaMyDear
Summary: Venom doesn't understand the purpose of all the jewelry Eddie wears and attempts to figure it out for himself when Eddie can't give him a good reason.Most of the ideas came fromyoitsmarsandiamnumbr3, I just wrote it.





	Evolutionary Tactics

Venom has had a number of hosts since he was brought to this planet. They all differed from each other in so many ways, and he has come to understand that this is normal of all humans. Like Klyntar, each human is different in their own way. They have different thoughts and preferences and outer skins (“Clothes,” Eddie had explained, “They're called clothes and I have to wear them, no you cannot be my clothes, remember when that plane flew over us and you hid inside me? I don't want to end up naked on the street because we heard something shrill and you had to hide!”), and his Eddie is no different in this aspect. Venom has carefully studied the differences between Eddie and other human male specimens to answer his questions about Eddie's particular behavior, such as;

Do other humans primarily drink beer rather than water or other liquids? Answer: No. 

Do other human males sleep no more than four hours at a time, stay awake for six hours, then sleep for another four hours? Answer: No. 

Venom is slowly working on these deficiencies in Eddie's behavior using a mix of gentle reminders ( **EDDIE GO TO BED, IT'S FIVE AM, NORMAL HUMAN MALES ARE ASLEEP RIGHT NOW, YOU NEED TO SLEEP! And I want to watch the television!** ) and tattling to Anne and Dan, who are able to help Venom manipulate Eddie's behavior with withering stares and lengthy explanations about how a solid eight hours of sleep are necessary for a person's health as well as the importance of drinking liquids that aren't alcohol-based. Eddie earns himself a swat on the head from Anne after asking if soda is an acceptable alternative, since it isn't alcohol-based.

Venom has learned a lot from Dan on how to keep his host alive and healthy, and he's managed to figure out a lot of things on his own, but there's one thing about Eddie he can't figure out no matter how much he studies other human males (mainly Dan, Eddie's coworkers, and the human males on television, though Eddie has explained that the humans on television are ‘acting’ and their behavior is not a realistic representation of actual human behavior), and that is Eddie's habit of wearing excessive amounts of ‘jewelry’. When their lives had settled down some after their adventure in saving the world, Venom finally had time to explore his host and investigate his mannerisms. He had quickly discovered the (numerous) bracelets stacked on each of Eddie's wrists, the thick gold band on his index finger, and the necklaces around his neck. 

**What are these? What is their purpose, their function?** Venom had tugged at a necklace with a thin tentacle, pulling on it and examining the metal bauble hanging at the end of the cord. **It looks like an invitation to strangle you.**

“What? No, it's a necklace! You don't… You don't strangle people with them!” Eddie shook his head, using a tone Venom had now come to recognize as meaning a repulsed misunderstanding between their cultures. Eddie thought it was rude (was this the correct emotion? It didn't sound right to Venom. Impolite?) to use a ‘necklace’ to strangle someone and use it to cut their head off. Venom thought it was an odd but thoughtful gesture. He didn't need a necklace, he could simply bite their heads off with far less effort. But the intention was sweet. However, it seemed his interpretation of the necklace was wrong. 

**What is it for, then? What does it do?**

“I don't know, it just looks nice?” Eddie had shrugged and yanked his necklace out of Venom's grasp.

Further inquiries proved similarly useless in Venom's endeavors to understand his host. The purpose of the jewelry remained an unsolved puzzle in the back of Venom's mind, pieces added and removed as he received hints or clues or figured out from context that he had once again failed to understand the point of the jewelry.

 

‘Alright, V, I need you to be quiet. We've got an interview with the new head of the Life Foundation.’ Eddie has to remind him to shut up before every interview and he dreams of the day Venom will just obediently be quiet while he's trying to do his job. But he knows that being quiet is not on Venom's list of things he'll do without being told.

**Fiiiine.**

Venom hates being quiet when he still has so many questions about his personal human and humans in general, but the last time he promised to be quiet during an interview and then started singing Baby Shark in Eddie's brain, Eddie threatened to go to the airport and stand on the tarmac where the planes were taking off. 

Venom sat quietly aside inside Eddie's thoughts, watching and listening with Eddie's eyes and ears as he interviewed the new head of the Life Foundation, asking about how they intended to grow and improve from their past experiences. Venom had no idea what they were talking about, and really, he didn't care.

“So, Carlton…” Eddie started, and Venom could feel adrenaline releasing, increasing Eddie's heart rate, his muscles tensing. Anger, fear, and rage flying through Eddie as he recalled his interactions with Carlton Drake, how his life had been turned upside down at Drake's command. Venom remembered Carlton Drake, remembered tasting his ambition when Riot had swallowed him and Eddie, leading to Venom briefly, accidentally, bonding with Drake long enough to read some memories and feel his emotions. Venom's understanding of using human emotions to explain his own feelings was still limited, but he was grasping that emotions were complicated. Seemingly inappropriate emotions could surface in response to a stimulus. Venom felt fear and anger as he thought of Carlton Drake and Riot, just like Eddie did. He felt a deep, ripping, nauseating sadness as he thought of finding Eddie's lifeless body on the launch pad. But there was also some joy, and feelings of gratefulness. If not for Carlton Drake, would he have ever met his darling Eddie, his perfect host? 

Eddie felt the sensation he had come to learn was Venom moving around inside of him, sliding over his muscles and organs and squeezing. He had tried several times to explain hugs to Venom, but the meaning and execution still seemed to be beyond Venom's current understanding. But he was trying. At least he was squeezing more gently this time, unlike the last attempt when he'd knocked the wind out of Eddie. 

‘You scared, buddy? It's okay, Drake and Riot are gone. You know I won't let anyone here hurt you.’ 

Venom felt a little tremor of joy and squeezed a little tighter until he noticed Eddie's oxygen intake was restricted and released him. Why did humans show affection by constricting each other's lungs? They needed to breathe, how was mild strangulation a sign of fondness? 

“Obviously we have a long road ahead of us, Mr. Brock. Drake's questionable ethics-” 

“Complete lack of ethics or morals.” Eddie interrupted. His interviewee sighed deeply, resigned to the fact that the rest of this interview would be full of similar snark. Eddie's life had been destroyed by Carlton Drake, so of course he was mad and would want to slide some snide comments in, although his antagonist was burnt to a crisp somewhere in the ocean, not face to face with him. 

“Aw, sorry about that, man. Just a little, you know, still kinda upset about almost getting murdered by Life Foundation goons last time I was here. I know it's not your fault.” Eddie reached out to pat the guy's shoulder, his bracelets rattling with the motion. Through Eddie's eyes, Venom noticed the man's quick glance toward the sound, and his vaguely uncomfortable body language following the quick look. This was the first time Venom had ever seen another human react to Eddie's jewelry. Anne never responded, nor did Dan or Mrs. Chen, so this was his first true opportunity to study a human response to his host's jewelry. 

“So, how about the space travel program? What's happening with that?” Eddie asked, casually rubbing his nose and sniffing. The motion sent his bracelets rattling again, and Venom again noted the human's immediate discomfort following the sound.

“Well, the rocket exploded, and the price tag of such an advanced spacecraft was astronomical. For the time being, the space program has been shelved so the Life Foundation can refocus on its original goals of improving life here on Earth.” The man seemed relieved to have found an opportunity to try to reroute the interview back to a good PR moment. 

“So no more testing pharmaceuticals on homeless people then, huh?” Eddie chuckled, though his interviewee once again looked uncomfortable as Eddie turned a page in his notebook, jewelry clattering together. 

A few nights ago, Venom had spent the night watching nature documentaries while his fragile human host was unconscious for several hours as his biology demanded. His favorite parts of the documentaries detailed how animals threatened opponents and displayed their superior strength to scare off potential threats. There was one creature in particular, the rattlesnake, that produced a threat sound similar to the sound Eddie's jewelry made.

**EDDIE, I FIGURED IT OUT!**

“Oh my god, V, I said-” Eddie cut himself off, remembering he was still conducting the interview. 

“Are you alright, Mr. Brock?” He'd been warned that Eddie was a bit eccentric and that he might be difficult to deal with, considering his experiences with the Life Foundation, but this combative behavior was just weird and unpleasant. 

“Yeah, I'm fine, my phone just buzzed me is all.” Eddie dismissed the man's worries with a wave of his hand, the beads on his wrist rattling once more. Venom turned their head toward the man, eagerly monitoring him for signs of distress or fear in response to a superior predator's threat. 

“Mr. Brock, I fully understand your dislike of the Life Foundation, but you're being very unfair here. We are learning from Mr. Drake's mistakes and working to turn this company into what it was always meant to be. Of course there's no more unwilling human testing, we've created an ethics board and there's now full transparency on how money is raised and spent and what our vision is-”

“Unfair? I'm being unfair here?” Eddie raised a brow, setting down his notebook, bracelets shaking, “One of my friends died in this place. Your former boss sent his goons after me on a high speed chase through the city. He tried to kill me because he thought I stole one of those alien goo parasite things he brought here from space-”

**EDDIE! You said you'd stop saying that!**

‘It's just for appearances, V.’

Eddie knew he'd pay for that later. 

“I-I understand that, Mr. Brock, however-” The man's voice was quavering, Venon could almost hear his heart rate picking up, adrenaline starting to trigger his flight or fight response. Venom was so excited about this discovery he almost didn't mind (except he really, really did mind) being called the P word (he would make Eddie pay for that). 

Venom seized control of Eddie's wrist and violently, gleefully rattled the bracelets at the man, eagerly awaiting his terrified response. 

Instead, both him and Eddie fell dead silent. 

“Um, Mr. Brock…” 

“You mind if I take a few minutes to clear my head?” 

“Oh, of course. Take all the time you need.” 

Eddie left, heading first toward a bathroom, then outside, then around the back of the building where he and Venom could be alone. He breathed deep, replaying the last few moments of the interview over in his head. Venom had taken his wrist and made him… Wave his hand? What for? He heard Venom laughing hysterically in his head and kept quiet, waiting for an explanation. 

**He was so scared he couldn't speak! Eddie, I finally figured out what your jewelry is for!**

“You what? Oh, right, you were asking about the jewelry… Look, V-” That was nowhere near the realm of what Eddie had thought Venom would say. Not that he ever really knew what Venom was about to say, except for probably something about eating bad guys’ heads. He was surprised Venom hadn't asked to eat this guy yet. 

**It’s to warn others of impending doom!**

“It… _What?_ ” Eddie almost choked. Venom thought his jewelry was some kind of warning system? “V-”

**If a threat is presented, you rattle your jewelry to warn them that we are a much more dangerous animal, and we will bite off their heads!**

Eddie had to pause and take another deep breath, mostly to stop himself from laughing at what his life had become. He thought about the interview he just did (and probably fucked up beyond repair. He didn't want to do this interview but his boss said the Life Foundation had insisted, they thought the optics on Eddie Brock doing an interview with the new and improved ‘Now With Less Murder’ Life Foundation would boost their public image, but it wasn't working out that way now was it? Because Eddie couldn't keep his damn mouth shut, couldn't just sit and color.) and he did remember several instances where his bracelets had clacked together while making impassioned statements that had made his interviewee uncomfortable. Or, in Venom's eyes: scared and threatened by Eddie's _terrifying_ bracelets. 

That was both the weirdest and cutest thing he'd ever heard. Venom thought he wore the bracelets to scare people. 

“So why do you think I'm the only human you know who wears these, then? Anne and Dan don't wear these. They don't need to threaten people sometimes?” Eddie gave his wrists a little shake and felt a shiver of joy buzzing at the base of his skull, where Venom spent most of his time. 

**Not all snakes have rattles, Eddie. Anne doesn't need rattles, she doesn't warn her enemies she is about to strike.**

“Well, you got that part right.” Anne didn't give warnings, she just went for the throat.

**That strategy may not have worked for you, because you are not as strong as Anne. You learned and adapted and found a survival method that plays to your strengths. You and I really are not so different.**

Eddie wanted to argue and protest Venom's comment about Anne being stronger than he is, but… He’s right. And Venom had bonded with them both, he would know.

“Alright, V, whatever you say.” 

**Are you going to finish the interview?**

“I have to, it's my job.”

**Rattle your bracelets at him to show him who's boss!**


End file.
